Crash and Burn
by SoccerStriker13
Summary: "I used to think I understood what insanity was. But now I see I was wrong." - SasuNaru, High School Fic, M for later chapters, Details inside.


Crash and Burn

A Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha FanFic

"I used to think I understood what insanity was. But now I see I was wrong."

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Disclaimer: I do not own nor am associated with Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto, Cartoon Network, or Disney in any way. The characters used in this story, aside from my original characters, belong to Masashi Kishimoto and I have no claim to them. I am simply a fan writing a story for one of my favorite mangas/animes.

I was inspired to write this by multiple things, one I've recently gotten obsessed with Naruto (again), I saw a _really_ cute SasuNaru AMV on YouTube to the song Crash and Burn, and I've just found someone on Photobucket with an awesome collection of Naruto pictures. So this combination, and the fact that I have a lot of time one my hands now that school is ending, led to me feeling the urge to write a Naruto/Sasuke FanFic. Also in episode... 103 of Naruto Shippuden did anyone else notice that Sai and Shino were totally fighting over Naruto? 'Cause I just about laughed my ass off at that.

SasuNaru is not actually my favorite Yaoi pairing, it's not even my favorite Yaoi pairing in Naruto. My favorite pairing in Naruto is NaruGaar, because they just have so much in common and when Naruto saved him! And yeah. But I am a fan of SasuNaru, because Naruto is just downright obsessed with Sasuke. Why else would he chase after Sasuke for years? Because they're friends? Oh please, if my best friend up and ran away with Michael Jackson then I'd let her/him. Naruto LOVES Sasuke, end of fucking story.

This is in fact rated M for a fucking reason, the M does not stand for Monkeys or for Meek it stands for MATURE. Because shit happens and it will in this story. There will be violence, abuse (both emotional and physical), excessive swearing, drugs, and strong sexual content.

This FanFic will be set in modern, normal, not our world really but more like our world. Because I'm not sure I could write the epic ninja world that Naruto actually takes place in. And that is because I'm, sadly, not a ninja. The world is kind of a mixture of the ninja world (i.e. I will be using the names of those places) and our world (i.e. skyscrapers, airplanes, cars, high school etc.). And no epic ninja powers, simply because I don't know the names of anything... Sorry. This chapter is set in what I think would be Sea Country in the ninja world.

The plot is rather generic, Sasuke is a popular prick and Naruto is the new kid who is rather odd. They meet, Sasuke acts like a popular prick and Naruto hates him, shit happens, Sasuke falls in love with him, and from that point I add my little twist to the generic plot line and make it less generic. Okay? Okay.

On a technical note, when I'm writing as Naruto time skips will be defined as _One beat. Two beats. Three beats._ You'll understand eventually. Also Naruto is a little OOC, but I'm just playing up his darker side for the sake of my plot. But I will try to stay as true to him as I can possibly manage.

So without further delay:

Crash and Burn

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Chapter One

The Boy of the Nine Tails

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One beat.

Two beats.

Three beats.

"Oi, Naruto?" A voice called out to a lump resting in the soft, netted hammock. The lump moved at the noise, and let out a soft groan. "Naruto, you need to wake up." The lump groaned again and attempted to burrow deeper into the blanket that was wrapped around it. A hand reached out and began shaking the lump in an attempt to make it wake up.

"No," The lump whined, burrowing again.

The man sighed, clearing seeing that he wasn't going to get anywhere with his current attempts. "You leave me no choice Naruto," the lump groaned again, wishing that its tormenter would just leave and allow it to sleep. But the tormenter would not just leave lump, no he had a plan to awaken the lump. He gripped the edge of the hammock and yanked it upward. Spilling the lump on to the white wood patio floor.

The lump was revealed to be a young boy, namely Naruto, sprawled out on the floor in a rather uncomfortable looking position. The boy was dressed in dark gray board shorts and a light blue graphic tee with some band logo printed on it in neon colors. The tee was lifted up revealing the tanned and toned body underneath, it was clear that the boy got quite a bit of exercise daily. A mess of blonde hair topped the boy's head, tuffs of hair stuck out and up and in just about every direction imaginable. The boy was a bit smaller than average but he had long muscular legs that made up most of his height. The boy's feet were rough, with dark skin on the bottom from running and walking along the beach with no shoes on. His eyes fluttered open; they were a deep blue like that of the ocean that lay only a few feet away from his body. The eye contained many different hues of blue and danced with the setting sun's light. His eyelashes were long and caressed the boy's eyelids and cheeks as the boy blinked into awareness. He looked around with a dizzy look glazing his bright eyes. The boy opened his red mouth, but no sound was released. He closed the mouth and drew his eyebrows together as he tried to understand just what had happened to land him on his back in such a fit. The only abnormalities in the boy's appearance were the six scars on his face, three on each side of his cheeks. The two scars that were in the middle were slightly longer than the ones that surrounded them. The scars looked like they must have been self-inflicted, from the angle at which they were present on the face. The blue eyes fixed on the man that toppled him from the hammock and seemed to piece together what had happened. Around his neck was a single, rough black string that held a long hexagon shaped turquoise stone, with two tiny metal spheres on either side of the blue stone. He called it his "lucky necklace" because the woman that gave it to him had the worst luck he ever heard of but he'd worn it in every single surfing competition that he'd won. He frowned and then stuck out his lips in a pout. "That wasn't nice, Kyuubi."

Kyuubi smirked, showing only a few of his white and rather sharp looking teeth in that lopsided grin. He was much taller than the boy below him, and more muscular. He was dressed in a black long sleeved tee shirt, despite the warm climate, and a pair of blue jeans. Like Naruto he was not wearing shoes or socks and had feet well versed in walking on the sand. Unlike the boy he had dark eyes; they were almost red from the shade of brown. The light hit his eyes and lit them up like a fresh wound. His long hair fell past his shoulders and down his back, ending in the middle of his shoulder blades. The color of hair was unique, and recognizable anywhere. It was red, but a shade that was orange and brown while still retaining that distinction of being red. He had often been compliment on the color when he was younger but as he got older it became harder for people to approach him. But that was mainly due to the fact that he glared at anyone that approached him with a look that said _"come any closer and you'll find yourself missing a few organs"_. From under the red hair some metal could be seen, this was some of the many piercings that Kyuubi had on his body. Most of the piercings were on his ears but there were some in other places, Naruto had cursed Pein for taking his brother to a piercing parlor. "Big brothers aren't supposed to be nice, Naruto. Now come on you're missing your own going away party." Kyuubi spun on his heel and began walking away from the boy but stopped after the stairs. "Well, hurry."

Naruto paused; he felt sadness weighing down on his chest. Pressing tighter and tighter until the oxygen was leaving his lungs. He closed his eyes, listening to his steady heartbeat which was betraying his fear and depression. How could his own heartbeat remain so calm when he couldn't even quiet the storm within his mind? "Naruto!" His brother shouted for him to come to his farewell party. His goodbye. His last chance to see all of his friends. To laugh, and talk, and play with those who meant the world to him. The darkness inside of his mind and his heart began to fester. Naruto scrambled to his feet and plastered on the fake smile that he had perfected over the years. He couldn't let that darkness rise up right now, because he needed to be happy for everyone around him. Even if that meant allow the darkness to grow, and become more powerful for the day when it would inevitably consume him.

His feet pounded against the wood as he chased towards his brother, and towards his fate. "Yeah, yeah I'm coming." He said as he jumped over the three steps of the patio and onto the hot sand. Though the sun was barely clinging to the skyline the sand still retained the heat from the day earlier. The sand made a little _pfft_ as Naruto hit it and displaced some of the air, but the boy didn't take notice. He grabbed his big brother's hand and began to unceremoniously drag the boy to the place where the party was. Kyuubi made a few complaints as Naruto ran, and thus made his brother run too, but they didn't reach the blonde's ears. Frankly, because Naruto didn't want to hear them. He didn't want to hear anything other than his own heartbeat. He wanted to hear his own heartbeat pound, faster and faster and faster until... Until it stopped beating all together. Shadows began to grow as Naruto and Kyuubi got closer to the bonfire that had been started in honor of Naruto leaving. Because he wasn't allowed to stay anymore. But he didn't want to think about that, he didn't want to think about anything right now. Just his heart beat.

One beat.

Two beats.

Three beats.

Naruto looked at the small white pill in his palm; it was his medicine for the darkness. To push it back into the cell that he'd been keeping it in since he was little. The house was so quiet, his parents were already asleep and Kyuubi was supposed to be asleep but he was probably just doing some college work on his laptop. Naruto hated when he was alone, but he also kinda liked being alone too. When he was alone he didn't have to worry about other people, and in turn other people didn't have to worry about him. He popped the pill into his mouth and dry swallowed it, luckily the pill was small enough that there was no real need for the pill to be swallowed with water.

He walked out of the kitchen and flicked the light off as he left, he didn't need the light on to maneuver in the house but he liked to have it on because it just made everything easier. The house wasn't exactly small, but it wasn't too big either. Naruto's father, Minato Namikaze, was the president of a large international company that specialized in medical supplies and technology. Though his father ran the company he didn't like to live in cities that were too big or too serious since he wasn't serious in the least. So he'd set up his company's headquarters on this island where he could feel like he was on a permanent vacation while still getting work done. The feel of vacationing could be felt in the house despite the fact that they lived there all year round. The house was white and very modern looking in a geometric style. It was like two rectangular boxes that had been put on top of each other; the top floor was actually bigger than the one below it. Naruto had his bed on the top floor, as well as his parent's bedroom, but his brother's room was downstairs.

The sitting room was up stairs since it had all glass windows and possessed the best view of the ocean. Naruto liked to spend hours just curled up in one of the chairs and watching the nightly storms in the distant. He could hear the rumbling of the storm; it was closer than usual tonight. He wondered if the storm would reach them by morning. The clouds were the prettiest when they were full of rain. He walked up the quiet steps towards his bedroom; he could hear the even breathing of his father and mother just a little ways away. Naruto had always had sensitive hearing. It made ignoring people especially difficult. Not that many of the people talked about him, or at least they hadn't until _that_ happened.

Naruto paused in front of his parent's room before he moved on towards his own; as he passed by the sitting room lightning flashed and lit the room for a single moment before the darkness consumed the room once again. He noticed that his festival mask was sitting out and so was his yukata, it looked like there were some water stains on the blue fabric. His mother had probably been crying over them, again. She was having a hard time accepting the fact that he was leaving. She was acting like Naruto would never be coming home, but he would. He would call and visit, if not simply because he would miss his family then because his mother would literally skin him alive if he didn't.

He continued on towards his room, it was _so_ empty and oddly clean. He never knew that his room could actually be clean, or empty. The walls had a few dark spots but most of the space was bleached white, there were crisp lines from where papers, posters, and pictures used to line the walls. Two bags were on the floor, a gym bag full of some clothes and his bright orange backpack that he kept his computer in as well as his PSP; he was ready for the flight tomorrow. The rest of his stuff had already been sent to Konoha, the place he'd be living in starting tomorrow. Part of him was excited to go back to the town and visit his Godfather, but another part of him was terrified to leave his home. He'd never lived outside of Ha Ha island, and he'd only left the island a few times when he went to visit his Konoha and the place was so big when compared with the lazy tourist trap that he grew up in. [1] On his dresser he could see the stains from the salt water from the shells, medals, and surfing trophies he'd be awarded. Naruto liked surfing; it was calming and a popular sport among the locals. His board was being stored outside; he'd be taking it to Konoha despite the complaints from his parents. There may not have been anyplace to surf in Konoha but he wasn't about to leave his board anywhere. He wondered if there were any sports that he could join in Konoha, he wasn't particularly fond of any. Football was boring, and American football was dangerous, he wasn't very good at hitting balls with the metal bat, he wasn't tall enough for basketball, he wasn't too bad at tennis but he hated chasing after the ball for six games before they called a winner.

Naruto plopped down on the bed, staring up at his ceiling. He really didn't want to go when he thought about it. But it wasn't like he was leaving completely by choice, it was because of _that._ Everything had been fine until _that_ happened. The darkness was rising again, it wanted to be recognized, and it wanted Naruto to know that it was responsible for _that_. But Naruto knew that it was responsible for that, no one else could be responsible for something like _that_. He turned over, burying his face into the sheets. He could hear his heart beat, it was calm again. But he wasn't, he wasn't calm but his heartbeat was calm it was so strange.

He reached into the orange backpack and pulled out the school's pamphlet, it was for the private school he'd be attending in the fall semester. He really hadn't wanted to go to a private school, he'd refused to go to the private school here since his friends went to public school but his Godfather said he had to go to this school, mainly because that creepy guy taught there. The school looked nice, but really boring too. The only thing that really interested him about the school was the library and the pool. Contrary to what most people thought Naruto liked reading, he liked to read history books and fiction but all the other subjects bored him. He wasn't a good student but he wasn't stupid, not completely anyways, he just sort of, got bored. Really easily.

His head was beginning to feel heavy, like it was made of lead. And his limbs were starting to feel really warm, and that warmth just kept spreading across his body. His medicine must have been taking effect right about now. Naruto rolled off the bed and sat for a moment on the floor before he got up, he grabbed the pillow that was sitting on his bed and held it tightly to his chest like it was a stuffed animal. He dragged his feet as he left his room again, he couldn't stand the thought of sleeping in that painfully empty room of his. He walked down to his brother's room, Kyuubi would bitch about it tomorrow but he'd let Naruto stay in his bedroom, because he really was a good older brother.

The door creaked a bit when he pushed it open and it made him feel more awkward than he already did for having the same maturity level as a five year old instead of a sixteen year old. He poked his head into the room, the lamp by Kyuubi's bed was still on and Kyuubi was sitting Indian style on his bed with his laptop sitting before him. His long red hair was pulled up into a ponytail and parts of his back mural, a very large and detailed tattoo, were visible at the back of his neck. He was looking at Naruto, his eyes were blank but Naruto could see kindness lurking in them. His brother was actually a good person, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, _deep_ down in there somewhere... "Kyuubi, can I sleep here tonight? My room's kinda lonely," Naruto didn't step into the room but he nudged forward so that more of his body was visible to Kyuubi.

The older boy sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Whatever brat, come on in." He patted the bed before he resumed typing on his laptop. Naruto wondered what class he was writing for, or if it was for a class at all, perhaps it just for the enjoyment of writing or possibly he was writing an email to his friends? Did Kyuubi have friends at college? There Pein, but he didn't really count as a person because they were roommates and he was sort of a freak. But were there other friends? Kyuubi had mentioned a group of people called the Akatsuki, Pein was a part of them, but he wasn't really sure that the Akatsuki were liked by Kyuubi seeing as he had a clipped tone whenever he spoke of them. The blonde slowly moved towards the bed, Kyuubi pretended not to watch him with worried eyes but was obvious because whenever he looked over at Naruto he stopped typing for a while and then would pick it back up when he looked back at the screen. He'd been getting those looks from all of his family lately, they were waiting for the darkness to take over again and for something like _that _to happen. But he wouldn't let that happen again, that's why he was leaving in the first place.

Naruto crawled on top of the bed and looked over at Kyuubi's screen, it was an email. He laid down next to his older brother and pinched the pale arm that was moving forward and back with the motions of typing. Red eyes narrowed slightly as they moved away from the words and towards the blonde. "Who're you emailing?"

"Pein, he wants pictures of the trip so I'm sending the ones of you surfing and the bonfire," He made it sound like it was nuisance that his friend was interested in his life. But maybe he sounded a bit happy too.

"Does Pein know about, _that_?" He asked timidly, he wasn't a big fan of Pein but he knew that he'd be dropping in to look after him when he moved to Konoha. That was mainly just because Konoha University was only a few miles away from where he'd be staying and Kyuubi wouldn't be around for an entire month after Naruto got there.

Kyuubi looked down at him, "Yeah, he was there when I got the phone call. Why? Did you not want him to know?"

"Nah, s'okay. I just didn't know if we were gonna tell him," Naruto was pouting, only slightly but he was pouting. He'd never admit this but he had an older brother complex, he didn't like to share Kyuubi with anyone. Their Godfather liked to tease Naruto about the day Kyuubi would get married, but that was mainly because when Naruto was three he said he wanted to be Kyuubi's bride. It had been a long childhood for both of them.

He rolled over so that his stomach was pressed against the bed and his arms were tucked up against his chest, it actually hurt his bone a little but he liked to sleep like that. His hair was ruffled before the typing picked up again. Naruto closed his eyes and listened, to the typing, to the over head fan that made a small tick every five rotations, to the open window that faced the storm, and to his own heart beat. It was all its own type of music, and it made the blonde smile.

One beat.

Two beats.

Three beats.

The airport was crowded with people from all over, mainly tourists who were coming to the island for a relaxing vacation. Naruto was stopped by a few teenagers who recognized him from some YouTube videos of the last surfing competition, which Naruto had won. Luckily Kyuubi had decided to stay home, he hated crowds so going to an airport in the middle of summer was the bane of his entire angsty existence. Naruto stared at his ticket; Gate B32. He could already see it a few gates away, his grip tightened. He was scared. A hand landed on his shoulder in comfort, it was his father's.

Naruto was a spitting image of his father, though Naruto's hair was not nearly as long as his father's, whose hair fell down to his collar bone. Minato Namikaze still looked like a kid in some ways, not a kid-kid but a young adult. Naruto swore that his father hadn't aged since he was, what, twenty? Twenty five? Seriously it was almost creepy seeing as he was well in his forties. But maybe Naruto would be a vampire like his father and stop ageing around that time in his life too... But with his luck, probably not. The both had the exact same blue eyes, deep and bright but Minato's were clouded with worry for his son. It wasn't like Naruto was going to disappear or anything, he was just going to live somewhere else for a while. Minato was in a suit today, it wasn't normal but it wasn't abnormal either. But personally Naruto thought that his father looked a little ridiculous trying to be a responsible adult, if he really wanted to be convincing he'd chop off his hair or at least trim it.

Naruto may have looked like his father, but it was easy to see where Kyuubi had inherited his appearance from. Just up ahead of the two men a woman was charging forward, to most she appeared to be in a hurry but to them they knew she was just nervous and upset and attempting to find anything that could waste sometime, so that Naruto may just miss his flight. Her name was Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze. Her long red hair flowed behind her, and her heels made a rather loud clack with each step. She was angry, and those green eyes were probably ready to cry but neither of them could be sure since she wasn't facing them. Honestly Naruto's mother was making this much more difficult than necessary. But that was understandable, mothers weren't supposed to give up their children before they turned eighteen or at least that's what she had said. The gate was just ahead, he could see the word Konoha on the electronic board.

Unless his mother wanted to scream that she had a bomb, send the entire airport into a frenzy, cause the media to blow the thing out of proportion, and get their family permanently banned from every being able to fly again; Naruto was going to get on that plane. But he knew that she wasn't quite above doing something like that if it meant she got her way. The group hesitated in the walkway just a few steps away from the seating area for the gate. Naruto wouldn't be waiting since he had a first class seat and the boarding process had just begun, they were loading the small children and other's needing assistance onto the plane which meant that first class was next. They had timed their arrival perfect, this way there wouldn't be any awkward waiting time where they'd sit quietly trying to ignore the elephant herd that had entered the premises. He moved forward and away from the people who were still trying to make it to their gates, his stomach was knotting up. The stomach thing wasn't just because he hated flying with the burning passion of a blue star, but also because he was frightened of leaving his parents. Sure he'd see them during Winter Break, Spring Break, and next Summer Break but for the next two years of high school he'd be living with his Godfather. "I guess, this is where we say goodbye," He said hesitantly, shifting his weight from one foot to another.

In one swooping motion Naruto found himself enveloped in a hug by his mother, she was slowly crushing his ribs. He didn't mind though since he'd broken those ribs multiple times within the past year. "You'll call? Every day? No, call more than once a day, call all the time," She said kissing his head.

"Yeah, I'll call. But not every day, 'cause I might forget. But I'll call, and I'll email you pictures too," He'd gotten the idea to email from Kyuubi who'd been sending those pictures to Pein. "Okay?"

She pulled back and looked at him with those big loving eyes of her's, the dark green was like a thick forest of evergreens. "Do you promise?"

"I promise."

"Good, I love you," She kissed his forehead and then both of his cheeks right above the scars. "Be safe, and don't fight with the other kids." Naruto winced internally, he wasn't sure if he could uphold the last part about not fighting with the other kids. But he'd try; it wasn't like he was going to go around picking fights with every kid that looked his way. If they didn't start anything then he wouldn't start anything.

But he wasn't sure if the darkness would be so obedient if it got the chance to start something like _that_.

His mother slowly released him and stepped back wiping her eyes and attempting to look strong and confident like she normally did. "I'll try," He said shakily, feeling his stomach turn over and his head throb. He turned to his father who was looking at him sadly. Naruto was shocked at how much older sadness made the man look. "We'll talk soon?" He didn't know why he felt so uncertain of this, but he feared that if he didn't see his father they wouldn't talk.

"Bet on it," He said grabbing his son into a ferocious hug Naruto hugged back feeling the hard bones of his father's shoulder blades and hearing the steady beat of his heart. Naruto listened for his own heart beat, it sounded sporadic but that was normal since he felt rather sporadic at the moment. "Don't forget to take your medication."

"I won't," He said peeling away from his father's form. He smiled; it was a genuine smile but a very depressing one. If he had given them one of his fake smiles his mother would have made his headache fifteen times worse with a punch to the skull. When he was younger he used to always give fake smiles, it made people want to be around him even if it did make him seem more stupid, but when he was eleven Kushina had figured out that his smile never reached his eyes and she'd punched him every time that he had used that smile around them until he stopped even daring to use it. He adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder and gave them both a look as his grip tightened on the ticket once more.

"Now boarding first class for flight number 56295," The voice on the speaker called out. "Now boarding first class for flight number 56295." This was it, no turning back now. Naruto walked over and presented his ticket, the woman scanned it and then returned the stub to him so he could locate his seat. He began his descent down the tunnel to his plane. He paused just after the doors, allowing the people to walk around him, and took a final look at his parents. They stood staring at the doors, they were unable to see him but he waved anyways before turning back to the plane.

The ticket said that he was to sit in seat 6A; it was a window seat in the very back of first class. The first class cabin was set up with six rows of seats and six seats in each row, so thirty six seats in all. Two on the right, two in the middle, and then the final set of two on the left. He was on the left so he cut across the empty middle row and made his way to the back. Whoever was sitting next to him hadn't boarded the plane yet, so he didn't have to do that awkward shimmy past their legs to get to his seat. He probably looked out of place since the other people flying in first class were middle aged men in suits, an older looking couple, and some young women in designer clothes. While he was just there in light blue jeans, a black belt with a metal skull buckle, neon blue converse, and a bright orange t-shirt with the Whirlpool surfing logo on it, a red spiral that looked like it was graffiti on the shirt. And of course his lucky necklace.

Most of the seats were filling up; soon the other passengers would be allowed to board the plane. Naruto bent down to store his backpack under the seat in front of him, when he moved raised his head he noticed the man who was going to sit next to him had arrived. He looked young, but also old due to lines that fell from his eyes down to the sides of his mouth, in a way they were wrinkles but in a way they were also not wrinkles. It was strange and not something Naruto had seen on someone so young before. He was dressed casually, in jeans like Naruto but the denim was darker and instead of bright colors he wore a black t-shirt with a low hanging collar and long sleeves, he wore black dress shoes that looked like they were Italian. His hair was blue black and had hair falling to the sides of his face while most of it was secure in a pony tail directly in the middle of his head; this made Naruto think that he may have been slightly OCD. He wore a bit of eyeliner around his dark eyes and some dark purple nail polish; that was almost enough to make him laugh. The man's eyes weren't exactly brown, since they seemed to almost have a blue tint to them when they faced the light but they were so dark that they were pretty much black. He looked over at Naruto only briefly before sitting down, there was a look on his face that told Naruto straight out that he didn't plan on being friendly and chatting it up on the plane ride, which would work out just fine for the blonde he didn't really want to talk to some stranger for four and a half hours. Although the man had already begun his antisocial plane ride Naruto smiled fakely at him just to be polite.

The other man sat down, and began to store his bag under the seat in front when Naruto noticed a red cloud mark sewed onto the bag. Some where he'd seen that mark before, he stopped for a second and thought back to where he had seen that mark before. He looked out the window as passengers began to flood into the plane but he didn't really notice since he was attempting to find out where that mark was from but he could feel the eyes of the people who walked past as they stared at him. The shape of the cloud mark was too familiar for him to have not seen it before, he closed his eyes and tried to back track across the summer, across the school year, across Winter Break... Ah, that's where he'd seen it. He'd spent the last winter in Konoha with his Godfather but he'd also paid a short visit to Konoha University and that's where he'd seen the cloud thing. Pein had one on his school bag, he'd mentioned that it was something that all the Akatsuki members received after they joined, and Naruto had also seen one sitting on top of Kyuubi's dresser after his first trip home after attending the University. Naruto snuck a peek at the guy sitting next to him; he had pulled out a book and was reading. It didn't look like something you'd pick up just for the hell of it seeing as the title sounded so boring and technical: _Ophthalmic Medical Assisting: An Independent Study Course_. He wondered if he should ask about the Akatsuki or if he should stay silent, he guessed for the time being he could just wait since the lady was in the aisle giving the demonstration on how to use a seatbelt.

Naruto quickly tightened his seat belt as he felt the plane move back, they were beginning the taxing. His heartbeat was in his throat and his stomach had sunk down into his hips. The beating of his heart was at the same speed as the wind turbines on the plane wings. He clawed at the armrest, when he did that he saw the man next to him shift in his seat to look at him. "You dislike flying," It wasn't a question, but he nodded yes anyways. The man had a deep monotone voice. "Interesting. I wouldn't have expected that from looking at you." He wondered for a second if that was a compliment or an insult but chose that latter suited the man more.

"I wouldn't have expected you to be a part of Akatsuki, so I guess were even," He countered, he had wanted it to seem like a light hearted joke but it sounded a little acidic even to his ears. There was a question in the man's eyes, along with some shock but before he could voice the question Naruto responded. "The red cloud on your bag, it's the mark of an Akatsuki member. Right?" He knew he was right but he smiled fakely, like an idiot almost.

"Yes, it is. How did you know?" He leaned towards Naruto instead of away like he had before. His elbow rested on the armrest of his chair and his head rested on his fist. This position made the man look almost interested in what Naruto had to say.

"My brother goes to Konoha University. He hangs out with Pein; he doesn't like people very much so you may not kno-"

Naruto was interrupted by the man, "Namikaze Kyuubi, he's your brother?"

He was a little surprised, he had to admit it. Not many people pieced together that Kyuubi and he were relatives, let alone brothers, "Yeah, how did you know?"

"If your brother had been a member of Akatsuki you would have said so," The way he said it made it sound like it was the most obviously thing in the world and that Naruto was the stupidest child in the world. "And Kyuubi is the only one outside of Akatsuki that spends any amount able time with Pein." Now that he explained it did seem rather obvious and Naruto did feel rather stupid.

"Oh."

An awkward silence settled between them, Naruto's reply had been the only thing that he could think of since he didn't know the name of his companion or anything else about them other than the fact that he went to Konoha University and was a part of the Akatsuki. It didn't seem like the man was going to say anything else to Naruto so he settled in while the plane stopped for the right away to the runway. Naruto found himself thinking about how many different ways he could die on the plane, the darkness was the one contributing these thoughts, it was mocking his fear of flying. It didn't matter how many times he flew, or had a flight that was completely peaceful and wonderful and full of fucking rainbows, he hated to fly. He hated the whole process of flying. The waiting for a ticket, checking the bags, going through security, locating your gate, waiting to board, waiting to take off, taking off, the long period of flying, landing, taxing to the gate, waiting at the gate till they open the doors, the crowd moving at less than one inch per minute to get off the plane, then trying to figure out where the hell baggage was, getting to baggage and finding out that there are three other flights on your belt so you have to wait forever to find your bag, and then whether your hailing a taxi, renting a car, or getting pick up you have to be involved in the bumper to bumper traffic till you finally reach the highway. Flying sucked ass.

The plane picked up speed and Naruto gripped the armrests just a bit tighter, the man was still watching him with only slight interest. As the wheels began to leave the ground Naruto closed his eyes, the pounding of his heart was a war drum at the peak of its procession. "I am Itachi Uchiha by the way," The man spoke up suddenly almost as if to distract Naruto from the flight name was somewhat familiar. He recognized it from a history lesson. Unlike when he tried to remember the red cloud mark he had a very easy time recalling the information on the name Uchiha. The Uchiha family was one of the first to set up a police force in the Country of Fire; they also helped to invent the new regulations for all military forces. Currently the family ran a multibillion dollar company creating and supplying countries with military force and weapons. But he also remembered that some kid brought up the tragedy of the Uchiha family. About seven years ago most the Uchiha family was brutally massacred, only the two sons survived. So the two that survived were Itachi, who was obviously the older one given the fact the other son was said to be Naruto's age, and his younger brother. There was a lot of speculation that the older son, Itachi, had been the one behind the whole thing. Of course looking at him now it isn't hard to see why they would come to that conclusion, he looked gothic, and not very social so he would fit the stereotype of psychopathic killer who goes crazy and murders his family. But Naruto couldn't believe that he would actually kill his family.

"Namikaze Naruto," He put out his hand with a fake smile, he wasn't going to mention that whole thing with his family because he'd probably heard it a thousand times. Itachi took his hand for about half a second and then he just dropped the hand. "Were you visiting someone or just on vacation?"

He shrugged, "Neither really, I was working. My company is thinking of setting up a space center out here. Possibly on Jiro Island or Kikai Island."

"You shouldn't set it up on Kikai Island."

"Why not?"

"The people are superstitious of the place. There used to be a mental asylum set up there, where they used to run human tests it was setup during the Second World War," He said recalling the creepy trip to the former asylum. "There's a legend that all the souls that died in the asylum still haunt the place so none of the locals will go there. So you'll have trouble with things like that. But Jiro Island is perfect for a space center, it's spacious and they grow the best pineapples."

"Pineapples?" Itachi asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, pineapples! Don't you like them? They're sweet, and yellow, and delicious," He smiled absently, Jiro Island had a large pineapple plantation that the kids liked to visit on Sundays and just climb the trees and eat some of the spiky fruit.

His eyes were blank, so it was impossible to tell how he was feeling, but his mouth hung open just a little before he finally shut. Then he would allow it to open again so that he could say something, and then he would decide not to say it. He did that for a while, before he finally decided to speak and just to his luck the speaker came on over his voice. "Attention passengers the captain has turned off the seatbelt sign but we advise you to stay seated. We've reached an acceptable elevation for you to use your pre-approved electronic devices, if you have any questions about which devices are allowed you will find a list in Sky magazine in the pouch in front of you. If you do not see your device listed simply press the call button for assistance."

Itachi's eyes narrowed as he looked up to the invisible person who had interrupted him, he then looked back to Naruto. "You remind me of my brother when he was younger," His eyes weren't any softer when he spoke of his younger brother. Actually they felt a little bit colder and more distant then they had previously. "It's refreshing to see a kid still acting like a kid," Naruto was a little confused by this. Didn't all kids act like kids?

"What do you mean? Does your brother not act like a teenager?" His eyebrows knitted together, he couldn't imagine anyone not acting like a kid when they were one. Kyuubi and Pein still kind of acted like teenagers despite the fact they were actually adults.

Those dark eyes seemed to get even darker with an indescribable emotion that Naruto only recognized because he'd seen it in his own eyes after _that_ happened. It was regret, and pain, and guilt. He knew how that felt, it meant that something bad had happened something absolutely terrible and it had been Itachi's fault. "No, he doesn't act like a teenager. He acts like adult, he's serious and moody and obsessive. But he still has his childish points, he gets jealous easily and doesn't like to lose," He seemed like he enjoyed the more child like traits more than the adult traits. There was almost a ghost of smile on his gloomy face. "I have to be honest the way Pein talks about you I'm a little envious of Kyuubi."

"Really? Kyuubi always says I'm an idiot," Naruto honestly didn't know what Pein might have said about him given the fact that Naruto always made a point to tease, annoy, and fight with Pein whenever the piercing addict was around. "Besides doesn't Pein hate me? We don't exactly get along."

"That's hard to believe, from the way Pein talks about you he seems to think of you as his little brother as well," He shrugged, which seemed strange on this particular person but also the action was probably normal for him seeing how his personality was. "It can be annoying sometimes."

"What's your brother's name?" He asked trying to pull a little more of that happy side he had briefly seen.

"Sasuke, he goes to Senju Academy," Naruto's eyes widened a little bit. Senju Academy was the school he would be attending in the fall. If he thought about it he could easily see that one of the most famous families would send their successor to one of the most elite private schools in the country. The school was named after the founding leader of the Country of Fire.

"No way! I'm going to Senju too!" He wondered if he'd get along with this Sasuke. It would be nice if he could make a friend out of this guy's little brother. He couldn't imagine a guy like Itachi described though. And he most definitely couldn't imagine a guy like Itachi described hanging out with him. "Maybe he and I will have few classes together."

"He's a Junior, what year are you?"

"I'm a Sophomore starting this fall," So he probably wouldn't meet Sasuke unless they were taking the same electives but he highly doubted the guy was taking two and half history classes, or film, or art. He seemed like the guy that took... different classes. "Most likely I'll never even meet him," He chuckled a bit and scratched the back of his head. The plane shook, and his nails went back to clawing the seat.

"Attention passengers, we've run into a bit of turbulence so the captain has turned the seat belt sign back on. Please refrain from getting out of your seat and return to your seat as soon as possible. Thank you." The voice announced. God how he hated how they said _"a bit of turbulence"_ since it felt as though the plane was having its own earthquake. His heart speed up and he could feel it pounding against his ribs with each beat.

One beat.

Two beats.

Three beats.

Naruto spent most of the flight talking to Itachi; he learned that while Itachi was currently running his family's business he was more interested in Optometry which was something to do with eyes. He'd have to look up more about it because Itachi seemed the most animated when he talked about eyes. Apparently his family had a special eye disorder that made him sensitive to color (which meant he hated Naruto's choice in shirts that day) and was causing him to go slightly blind. He wore contacts, he didn't' tell Naruto that but he could see the line of contacts at the edge of visible eye. Naruto always thought that contacts would be really uncomfortable. Itachi seemed bored no matter what he talked about though, he even seemed bored when Naruto was talking but he put up with the teen even when Naruto began going on and on about history. Naruto had fallen asleep at one point and woke up with his face pressed against the window and a dry mouth.

The plane had landed a few minutes ago but Naruto hadn't moved from his seat, he liked to be one of the last people to leave the plane because it meant that his bags were more likely to be on the rig when he got there than if he hurried to the belt. Itachi had left very quickly; apparently he had a board meeting. Eventually the line cleared enough that Naruto felt comfortable leaving. As he exited the tunnel he heard a familiar voice call out, "Oi, Brat! Over here!" A man was waving his arm in the air and staring directly at Naruto with a large grin on his face.

The man was drawing quite a bit of attention to himself. He was the type of man that would be described as _"husky"_ or _"fluffy"_, but he wasn't really either but both. Because of his late age, sixty seven, he had lost some of his muscle tone and it had been replaced with fat. His skin was starting to get very leathery looking, and tan. There was a small wart on the side of his nose. His hair was long, longer than most girls, reaching down to his ass. The hair was a blonde that was as white as snow, and stuck out in multiple directions. The hair was so long that the man had it pulled up into a high ponytail to keep it from falling in his face. He had warm brown eyes, with red strips down his cheeks that started at his eyes down to his jaw. He was dressed traditionally in a green-gray yukata, with a long sleeved fishnet shirt beneath the folds of his yukata. The yukata ended just above the ankles and black leggings ended below the ankles. He wore a red sash draped around his shoulders; it had one yellow dot on either ends of the fabric. Instead of wearing sneakers or dress shoes he was wearing a pair of geta with at least three or four inches of platform on them. His hands were calloused from years of holding a pen and scribbling words on to parchment. His smile was wide and showed off his glittering teeth.

Naruto didn't hesitate to run over to him, and tackled him with a hug. Luckily the man was strong enough not to be knocked over but he countered the force of the hug by stumbling backwards. He wrapped his arms around the boy and laughed so exuberantly that it shook Naruto's entire body which in turn caused him to laugh. "Good to see you too, Pervy-Sensei."

"Who're you calling a pervert you, stupid, brat? You should give your Godfather a little more respect than that." Jiraiya said still laughing as he playfully scolded his Godson. He dropped the blonde down to the ground and they smiled stupidly at each other for a while before they burst out laughing, people looked over at the two of them. "Come on, let's get your stuff and then we'll head back to my place and set up your room. Oh, yeah. Your stuff got here a few days ago." He said scratching the back of his head. "So, um. I heard you brought your board? Why? There aren't any places for you to surf here."

Naruto shrugged, he was sure that his dad had ranted and raved about how his idiotic son was determined to bring a surf board to the middle of a forest for some deranged and unknown reason, "I just couldn't leave it behind. It's a part of me. Ya know?"

"Sort of. So you got a girlfriend?" He asked, swiftly changing the subject to a plane that he was more comfortable with rather than trying to understand the bond between a beach bum and his board.

Naruto scowled, and stuck out his tongue. "Yuck. No way." The reaction was much like that of a five year old who thought girls had cooties.

Jiraiya laughed again, "What about a boyfriend? That one red headed kid seemed to really take a liking to you down at the Kusa Memorial Hospital." [2] Jiraiya knew for a fact that Naruto had been gay from the time after Naruto got his first kiss when he was eleven. It was a girl named Shion who he'd gotten along with until that time. They had drifted apart after that because Naruto didn't want to kiss her but they'd become good friends again after he had told her he was only interested in guys.

"Gaara? No we aren't dating." Kusa Memorial Hospital was the hospital that Naruto had been taken to after a bad episode with the darkness. He'd met another kid there, Gaara, with something like the darkness too and they'd sort of bonded. Well, actually they got into a fist fight and nearly killed each other during an episode. And then the two of them just got along and stopped hating each other. They'd even come to like each other. And then before Naruto left Gaara had kissed him and said that he was his only friend. The kiss had been nice, and Naruto said that he was glad to be Gaara's friend but of course he wasn't sure if Gaara understood that you didn't normally kiss your friends. Well, someone was bound to tell him someday. "What about you? Are you still with Dr. Melons?" He asked referring to Jiraiya's off and on girlfriend who was the head of Tobirama Senju Memorial Hospital. He called her _Dr. Melons_ not because her last name was Melons but because the woman had the largest breasts that he'd ever seen.

"Yeah, but currently she's pissed off at me." He said with a small scowl as they stepped on to the down escalators.

"Why?"

"Something about not being sensitive to her emotional needs and not picking up all of her hints," He shrugged seeming oblivious to the entire world when it came to Dr. Melons. "I just understand what she wanted me to say to her. I'm just a man I can't read minds."

Naruto laughed, looking at his feet as they stepped off to make sure that he didn't miss the step and make a scene by falling flat on his face. "Maybe she was upset about you using her in your newest novel Pervy-Sensei."

"How would you know that? You hate reading my books." What made Naruto happy was that Jiraiya wasn't concerned that a teenager would be reading a severely _adult_ novel but that Naruto wouldn't read the novel because the love was _straight_.

"Kyuubi told me." Jiraiya made an _Oh_ with his mouth. Obviously understanding that Naruto would never on any occasion pick up one of Jiraiya's books that featured something like a vagina in them. "Girls don't generally like that sort of thing. Just so you know." Naruto looked up at the monitor to see which belt his luggage was sent to before he continued forward while trying to keep the conversation going. They reached belt number eight, only to find that there were two flights ahead of his own, luckily the system could filter out more than one flight simultaneously. He could tell that the first flight was almost done but the second one probably wasn't even close.

"She should be flattered that I chose to include her in my award winning novels."

"I'm sure she'd love to be a part of your less erotic stories. Like the first novel that you wrote," Jiraiya made a face; his first book was one of the only books Naruto had read that was written by his Godfather. The story had been an epic adventure of self discovery, searching for peace, and discovering one's destiny. The book had received multiple awards, but only after Jiraiya had become extremely famous for his erotic novels. It was funny who would read your books after you were famous. The monitor screen for the belt changed, the first flight name was gone and now Naruto's flight number was flashing. He saw a long flat object start to emerge, many people looked over to see what it was and stood with mouths agape when they figured it out.

The object was 2.7 meters long, and wrapped in thick plastic protective wrap to keep from being damaged by the handling that it received during the trip in cargo. The red color showed through the plastic wrap and people were stunned at the beautiful yet creepy decorative art that was placed on the board. The background color of the board was a dark maroon, but taking up most of the deck was a large nine tailed fox in a red orange color with dark glowering eyes. The fox was almost ghostly in appearance, it stood at the bottom of the deck, head slightly lowered, eyes narrowed, and teeth bared while it's nine tails spread out, some of the tails were curled down and in but other just went out in strange directions, but one of the tails had snuck its way up to the tip of the nose. There was a story behind that piece of artwork but very few were privileged enough to know about it. It was extremely personal. After all the thing people were staring at was a Malibu longboard and it was Naruto's favorite possession. [3-4]

The people continued to stare as the brightly clad teen pulled the board from the belt with ease as though the thing weighed nothing. Naruto was much more athletic than most people thought; he had strong legs from swimming and strong arms from paddling out to the waves and from carrying his board everywhere. Besides since he was used to carrying the board he barely noticed the weight. "You really needed to bring that thing with you? Like I said there aren't any places you can surf here."

"Like I said, it's a part of me," There was no point in arguing. One: the board was already there. And two: Naruto was too thick headed to budge on this particular subject. He curled his fingers around the board until he felt them go numb. Besides all the people surrounding him, he felt alone. And it felt silent. His heart beat steadily, feeling calm for the first time since landing.

One beat.

Two beats.

Three beats.

x

[1] Ha Ha Island is the main island in the Sea Country.

[2] Kusa is the presumed capital of Grass Country, the country lying between Wind Country and Fire Country.

[3] For those of you who don't know that is an actual type of longboard. My friend's use it because it's for both beginners and experienced surfers. I also like to surf with this board, and trust me I'm not experienced, I wipeout. A lot.

[4] The fact that Naruto cares more for his board than anything else, and the fact that he couldn't imagine leaving the board back home while he was gone, and the way he said "It's part of me." is indicative of a _Soul Surfer_. For those of you who don't know, or have not seen the movie a Soul Surfer is someone who devotes their life and all their free time to surfing just for the love of it. While Soul Surfers often compete in competitions they don't really care if they win, it's all about being there and riding the waves the best that they can. This type of devotion that he is displaying will become very key later.

x

I know that right now the whole heart beat thing doesn't make sense but it will in the future, just you wait. I mean you have to wait because I haven't written it yet and it will not be explained for quite some time. Also the "darkness" will be explained later but most of you reading should be able to figure it out a general idea of what it is. This is not what the "darkness" is but if you've noticed Naruto is a little bi-polar with his emotions, and I'll probably expand that more in due time. He also has ADD. Also _that_ will be explained in due time as well.

So, I you saw while reading I use a decent about of time skips. I only take out what is unnecessary so that the plot will move along as planned and the chapter can end on the note that I wished to instill upon the readers. And besides it would stupid for me to waste time trying to come up with meaningless yet meaningful conversations for the characters to partake in.

This chapter was supposed to end at about eight thousand words (of the just the story) but as you can see it got a little longer than that just because there was so much I wanted to write about, I actually had written up some of the beach party, i.e. Naruto's going away party, but I thought it didn't match the mood of the story at that point so I simply took it out so that the emotion of the story would flow better.

Next chapter I will introduce some of my favorite characters from the Naruto series. Shikimaru Naru and Choji Akimichi. About my pairings, not all of them are gay, some are straight and some are not and some of the characters are just whores and some of the characters just hate everyone.

x

Pairings as I have them so far:

Obviously – Sasuke and Naruto

Obviously – Jiraiya and Tsunade

Shikimaru and Temari

Slight – Gaara and Naruto

Hinted – Ino and Choji

Mentioned – Kankuro and Sasori (puppet pair)

And more I don't feel like writing out yet.

x

Love, Me

PS. I will not be able to update for a while because I'm writing the first chapter to another story and then I need to update Silver before people stop reading it.


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